Where’s Jon? GOP Leaders Stand Up for Montana Coal

I see Greg, Steve, Matt, and Ryan. Where's Jon?

The entire Montana Congressional Delegation, minus Democrat Senator Jon Tester (D-MT), all stood up for Powder River Basin coal here in Montana and Wyoming. Tester was the only one missing. Montana's governor even weighed in.

I thought a lot about coal and coal jobs here in Montana last week, especially as I got to meet so many folks in Forsyth over breakfast on Thursday. There's a lot of folks who commute back and forth from Colstrip to Forsyth, and a lot of jobs based on business in both towns. The Biden Administration is not only trying to kill Colstrip, but they just announced a new rule to halt any new coal leases within the Powder River Basin.

Western Montana Congressman Ryan Zinke (R-MT01) called it "another punitive targeted attack on Montana and will result in higher energy prices and lower energy security for Montanans." Senator Steve Daines (R-MT) said, "Shutting down future coal production in eastern Montana will jeopardize our energy independence, raise costs for families and kill good-paying jobs." Eastern Montana Congressman Matt Rosendale called it "an insult to the men, women, and children of Montana who depend on coal to power their homes, keep food on their table, and maintain our Montana way of life."

Montana Governor Greg Gianforte also weighed in. “Every action taken by the Biden administration is driving up the cost of affordable energy and threatening the reliability of our electrical grid."

As for Jon Tester? Kind of like the wide open southern border, and the cancelling of the Keystone Pipeline...he's failing to stand up for Montana.

As the left leaning Montana Free Press reports, "Tester, the lone Democrat representing Montana on Capitol Hill, didn’t articulate a position for or against the agency’s decision in an emailed statement."

It is worth noting that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is currently run by former the former Tester staffer who was at the center of an eco terrorism case in the 1990s- Tracy Stone Manning. This decision came down from the BLM.